Kirk Brumbaugh receives the E. Andrew Mowbray Excellence in Exhibitry Trophy from Jim Supica, Director of the National Firearms Museum. (Photo by Bob Wos)

Philip Schreier, Senior Curator for the NRA National Firearms Museum, sent NRAblog the following report from the 15th Annual National Gun Show in Kansas City, Missouri:

Brumbaugh takes Best of Show at NRA's 15th Annual National Gun Show
By: Philip Schreier

(Kansas City, Missouri) - On July 23 - 25, the NRA sponsored it's 15th Annual National Gun Show in Kansas City, Missouri hosted by the Missouri Valley Arms Collectors Association during their 40th Anniversary Show. In addition to the 1,000 trade tables, there were 47 exhibitors who competed for over $11,000.00 in NRA display awards.

NRA judges made the rounds evaluating some of the finest collections of historic arms ever presented in public. From multi-barreled flint-lock combination guns to Barrett .50 sniper rifles, the displays were some of the best we have ever seen.

Winning overall best of show earned Kirk Brumbaugh of Omaha, Nebraska the E. Andrew Mowbray Excellence in Exhibitry Silver Bowl and $4,000.00 in cash from the NRA with his stunning exhibit of Vickers Machine Guns. Other notable exhibits included the M. 1895 Gatling Gun, SN 1041, one of the 4 Gatlings used by Lt. John Parker at San Juan Hill, Cuba on July 1st, 1898 and excellent historic displays of Colt Woodsman and High Standard .22 pistols. All the exhibits were of 1st class quality and the staff of the NRA thanks each and every one of the participants and visitors to this remarkable event.

The 16th Annual NRA National Gun Collectors Show will be held in Dallas, Texas August 20 - 21, 2011.

The NRA’s National Firearms Museum will be showing off part of their new Hollywood Guns collection at this weekend's Nation's Gun Show at Dulles Expo Center. The show starts tomorrow, Friday, July 30, and runs through Sunday, August 1. Members of the Museum staff will be available to answer questions, provide advice, and maybe pick up a few goodies along the way.

We again thank Senior Curator Doug Wicklund for the following descriptions of the firearms scheduled for display:

• John Wayne’s Winchester Big-Loop carbine from the movie Stagecoach. If you're a Western movie fan, this is a gun you’ve seen in the hands of the Duke as he twirled it to flag down the stagecoach at the film’s beginning scene. It likely had on-screen roles in other Wayne classics such as True Grit and El Dorado.
 

• Lorne Greene’s Winchester Model 1873 carbine from the TV series Bonanza. This nickel-plated carbine was there on the Ponderosa Ranch with Hoss and Little Joe! Bonanza was one of the longer-running western TV shows; it first aired in 1959 and ended in 1973 after 430 episodes.
 

• Chuck Connors’ Winchester Model 1892 rifle from the TV show The Rifleman. Come by and look over the famous Winchester rifle that TV sheriff Chuck Conners fired at the beginning of each show. Unlike John Wayne’s Winchester, this gun has a special set-screw fitted to hit the trigger as the loop comes up to a closed position.
 

• Clint Eastwood’s Walker revolvers from the film The Outlaw Josey Wales. One of these .44 caliber sixguns was also used by John Wayne and Kim Darby in True Grit. Converted from percussion ignition to use blank cartridges, these heavy revolvers were originally designed to be carried in saddle holsters. (One is pictured at right.)

Plan to visit the National Firearms Museum exhibit at the Capitol Expo Center all three days. If you come to the gun show, remember that “Hollywood Guns,” our special exhibition of movie guns, will be open (with free admission) at the NRA Headquarters just up the road. For more information, call (703) 267-1600 or email nfmstaff@nrahq.org.

The Missouri Valley Arms Collectors Association, an NRA affiliate since 1953, hosts its 40th Annual Kansas City National Summer Arms Show in Kansas City, Missouri, this coming weekend.

If you’re in the area, stop by to see the many different exhibits competing for 10 Special Judge’s Awards for Exceptional Collector Exhibits, The People’s Choice Award, Gun Report Magazine’s Best Educational Award, and many more.

The 15th Annual NRA Gun Collectors Show is sure to be one of the event’s most exciting exhibits. NRA’s own National Firearms Museum Director Jim Supica and Senior Curator Phil Schreier will be on hand to display the world-famous .44 Magnum from Dirty Harry, currently housed at the Museum’s Hollywood Guns exhibit.

The Summer Arms Show is open to the public. The hours are 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, July 23; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, July 24; and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, July 25.

Admission is only $8 for adults and free for children under 12, and the address is the K.C.I. Exp. Center, 11730 N. Ambassador, Kansas City, MO, 64195. Find more information here, and check back with NRAblog for a recap on winners and more! 

Just three weeks from today, the NRA’s National Firearms Museum will have a special lineup of Hollywood movie guns at the Nation's Gun Show at Dulles Expo Center. The weekend show takes place Friday, July 30, Saturday, July 31, and Sunday, August 1, and Museum staff will be there until the doors shut Sunday evening. As usual, they won't be there emptyhanded!

Thanks to Senior Curator Doug Wicklund for the following descriptions of the Winchesters on display:

• John Wayne’s Winchester Big-Loop carbine from the movie Stagecoach. If you're a Western movie fan, this is a gun you’ve seen in the hands of the Duke as he twirled it to flag down the stagecoach at the film’s beginning scene. It likely had on-screen roles in other Wayne classics such as True Grit and El Dorado.
 

• Lorne Greene’s Winchester Model 1873 carbine from the TV series Bonanza. This nickel-plated carbine was there on the Ponderosa Ranch with Hoss and Little Joe! Bonanza was one of the longer-running western TV shows; it first aired in 1959 and ended in 1973 after 430 episodes.
 

• Chuck Conner’s Winchester Model 1892 rifle from the TV show The Rifleman. Come by and look over the famous Winchester rifle that TV sheriff Chuck Conners fired at the beginning of each show. Unlike John Wayne’s Winchester, this gun has a special set-screw fitted to hit the trigger as the loop comes up to a closed position.
 

• Clint Eastwood’s Walker revolvers from the film The Outlaw Josey Wales. One of these .44 caliber sixguns was also used by John Wayne and Kim Darby in True Grit. Converted from percussion ignition to use blank cartridges, these heavy revolvers were originally designed to be carried in saddle holsters. (One is pictured at right.)

Plan to visit the National Firearms Museum exhibit at the Capitol Expo Center all three days. If you come to the gun show, remember that “Hollywood Guns,” our special exhibition of movie guns, will be open (with free admission) at the NRA Headquarters just up the road. For more information, call (703) 267-1600 or email nfmstaff@nrahq.org.

The First Annual NRA National Gun Collectors Show & Conference was held in Nashville, TN, in 1996, and quickly assumed the title of "The Finest Gun Collectors Show in the Country." The show is a program of our National Firearms Museum here in Fairfax, VA, and it travels all over the United States.

This year, the Museum has announced the show will take place July 23-25 in Kansas City, MO. The Missouri Valley Arms Collectors Association is proud to be hosting the much anticipated 15th Annual NRA National Gun Collectors Show & Conference. NRAblog will have all the details, so stick around!

Originally from Butler, Georgia, Wes Stinson is fitting in just fine here in Northern Virginia.

Stinson recently graduated from Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia, with a degree in Political Science.

“While in college, I signed up to become an NRA recruiter. I worked gun shows and sport shows in the central Georgia area,” Stinson explained. Unsurprising, then, that NRAblog met him at the front door of the recent Nation’s Gun Show, where he was at it again. “Join or renew your NRA membership, and we’ll get you into the show free today,” he cheerfully announced from under an NRA ballcap.

Stinson’s familiarity with firearms is serving him well as he settles into his position in the NRA’s Membership Division. He’s a marketing representative, a title he shares with three other full-time staffers. Each of the four reps serve a different geographic area, and for Stinson, who is assigned the Southeastern area of the U.S., it’s a comfortable fit.

“I do have a slight bias to the Southeast, but even so it’s accurate to say that there’s an army of outstanding NRA recruiters there,” Stinson told NRAblog. “They all work together to help strengthen the organization at hundreds of gun shows a year. They are good people to work with and they have a passion for the organization and what it stands for.”

Hunting and shooting come naturally to Stinson. “There’s a surplus of deer in Georgia, and I was always willing to help thin the herds,” he said, noting he also enjoys hunting doves. “My dad’s a gun collector, so, by default, I am too.”

When Stinson isn’t on the road, you can find him at his desk, corresponding with the NRA Recruiters he assists. If you’re an NRA Recruiter in the Southeastern United States, Wes Stinson is your man for all materials and information related to your recruitment needs!

“I enjoy helping (my NRA Recruiters) maximize their recruiting potential and they enjoy keeping the organization stocked with great members,” Stinson said of his job. “The bottom line is that I enjoy helping them help the NRA.”

Curator’s Corner comes to us again from Wanenmacher’s Tulsa Arms Show. This week’s special comes to us not from the museum, but from a collector. It's a Civil War favorite – the LeMat Revolver.

The revolver was Dr. Jean LeMat of New Orleans, whose initial attempts for a military contract were met with resistance until the outbreak of the Civil War. Thanks to his father-in-law, a deal was struck with the Confederacy and production was underway. Due to the South’s lack of manufacturing, it was decided that the LeMat would be produced in France. Unfortunately for them, only a little over 2,000 of these guns made their way past the Union naval blockades.

What makes the LeMat special is that it is two guns in one – a revolver and a shotgun. Each had nine shots from either a .42 or .36 caliber pistol as well as a single 16 gauge buckshot from the lower barrel. Although, as Senior Curator Doug Wicklund mentioned, it’s better to shoot the buckshot first, because the pistol shots have a way of jarring the buckshot loose.

For the full story on the LeMat, join the guys from the National Firearms Museum tonight at 10:20 p.m. EST as Curator's Corner hits the airwaves on NRANews.com and Sirius Patriot channel 144.

Fans of Curator's Corner are in for a real treat. For the next few weeks, you'll be transported to the floor of Wanenmacher’s Tulsa Arms Show. There you will see the gang from the National Firearms Museum highlight some of the more popular guns they take on the road. This time out, it was an offering from the Clint Eastwood collection.

But tonight we're taking a new angle. Instead of highlighting a particular gun, we are going to highlight a gun show. To assist us in this venture is Joe Wanenmacher, founder of the Tulsa Arms Show. Hear how the show grew from a few hundred tables to over four thousand, what obstacles they faced, exhibitors that have come and gone, and what steps a patron should take when evaluating or purchasing a gun.

We're back on schedule next week with a beautiful revolver (no clues yet,) so take advantage of Mr. Wanenmacher's experience while you can. It's not every day that one have to opportunity to gain such a unique look at running the world's largest arms show.

In addition to Curator's Corner, the show provided a nice backdrop for our first shot at the NFM Roadshow — where people bring their firearms for appraisal and evaluation live on camera. But you'll have to wait for more details on that front.

What you won't have to wait for is Joe Wanenmacher, live on tape from the Tulsa Arms Show tonight at 10:20 p.m. EST as Curator's Corner hits the airwaves on NRANews.com and Sirius Patriot channel 144.

Our very own Jim Supica and Phil Schreier were on hand representing the NRA National Firearms Museum. They chatted with as many of those 30,000 people as time would allow. A few of Clint Eastwood's guns accompanied the pair (details here). “The display proved extremely popular. It caught the eyes of lots of passersby, plus many folks showed up specifically to see the display,” Supica told NRAblog.

“The Dirty Harry S&W .44 Magnum made a special side trip to the Smith & Wesson Collectors Association “Southwest Bunch” Bar-B-Q dinner on Saturday night, where a number of SWCA members got the opportunity to have their picture taken with the original “Make my day” revolver. Funny… in each picture, the subject is grinning like a kid in a candy store.”

Adding a layer to the excitement, NRA News was on the scene to capture both the general feel of the show and to allow the Museum curators to play a few rounds of Antique Roadshow. You won’t want to miss this footage, coming soon to both NRAnews.com and NRAmuseum.org.

“Some spectacular guns came out of the woodwork for our inspection, identification, and value estimates for NRAnews.com," Supica continued. "Here are just a few of the rare arms that viewers will get to see:

• Winchester 1886 smoothbore .50 caliber lever action rifle
• “Apache” combination brass knuckles, pinfire revolver, and dagger
• A trapdoor carbine attributed to one of Custer’s Indian scouts
• Marbles “GameGetter” folding combination shotgun / rifle."

“Phil and I also reviewed some more common classic firearms such as a Browning Superposed shotgun, Winchester Model 70 rifle, and even an RG 10 revolver!” Supica told us excitedly. “Value estimates ranged from sixty dollars to six figures.” More...

Special thanks to National Firearms Museum Senior Curator Doug Wicklund for the following scoop:

This month's upcoming Nation's Gun Show will be a real blockbuster - in more than one sense. The NRA National Firearms Museum will be bringing famous guns from the movies. That's right -- guns you last saw on the silver screen will be there at the Dulles Expo Center April 23-25.

Ever wanted to see that strange silenced Remington shotgun from No Country for Old Men or perhaps a Star Wars blaster?  (John Popp from NRA News models the silenced Remington, right.) They’ll be there at Chantilly, along with one of Audie Murphy’s Colts, used in several of his cowboy films. Maybe you’re hoping for another Murphy – like Eddie Murphy’s Browning pistol from Beverly Hills Cop? Or you know you’ve always wanted to see Hans Gruber’s H&K P7 pistol from Die Hard or Ernest Borgnine’s Winchester 1897 shotgun from The Wild Bunch. You need to come by to see these actual Hollywood treasures in person, direct from film studio collections and prophouses. Remember, these are the actual guns that were used in the movies!

The National Firearms Museum’s newest exhibition, Hollywood Guns, just opened and if you like what you see at Chantilly, plan to come by the NRA headquarters building to see much, much more. Dozens of cinema guns, from rubber “Hero” versions used to avoid damaging actors and actresses in close action sequences, to a Gatling gun used in the classic film Gunga Din, to an impressive selection of John Wayne guns covering his entire film career.

If you like the movies, and more especially movie guns, this is the exhibit you’ve been waiting to see! Want more? – how about more films – Serenity, Pulp Fiction, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, The Hurt Locker, Book of Eli, Botany Bay, McQ, Fair Game, Edge of Darkness, The Untouchables, Tightrope, Joe Kidd, We Were Soldiers and many more.

Hollywood Guns will run in the museum’s William B. Ruger Changing Gallery from April 2010 to March 2011. The National Firearms Museum is open daily 9:30 am to 5 pm. For more information, email nfmstaff@nrahq.org or call (703) 267-1600. 

NRANews Producer Cameron Gray was in Tulsa, Oklahoma for the Spring edition of the Wanenmacher's Tulsa Arms Show. While there, he snapped a couple of shots of the National Firearms Museum's section of the festival. Sorry to report that only two of the pictures were salvagable — have to be careful with those camera phones.

Not familiar with Wananmacher's gun show? Take a look at NRAblog's post on the show from last year. Or, for those looking for a first hand account of the attractions, here's what Cameron had to say about the show:

"I have been to a lot of gun shows while working for NRA News. But nothing comes even close to the massive scale and historical richness of Wanenmacher's. I really hope to make it a twice a year pilgrimage."

The National Firearms Museum's (NFM) trip to Wanenmacher's Tulsa Arms Show has two purposes: the first is to show off part of their Hollywood Guns collection, the second is to take a look at your guns.

NFM Director Jim Supica and Senior Curator Phil Schreier have gently packed up a selection of their collection for the long ride to Tulsa. This particular component of the collection comes courtesy of Clint Eastwood. We're not claiming that Eastwood personally donated these guns, but he did have a handle on them in a few of his pictures. The collection includes:

• a Smith & Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum from Dirty Harry
• a Colt Walker 1847 from The Outlaw Josey Wales
• a Remington 1858 New Army from Pale Rider
• a Smith & Wesson 66 snub nose from Tightrope
• The Walther P38 used by Scorpio in Dirty Harry

 "The Museum table at this show presents the Museum as a resource to the community," Supica said. "We have way cool stuff people want to see and people need to know we're here. Plus we're going to provide a little something extra."

That little something extra is an Antique Roadshow style taping of Curator's Corner. Yes, the boys from NFM are asking you to bring your very own guns to their table – designated as LN-1 – for inspection and evaluation. If it's something they deem to be truly interesting, you and your firearm could end up on NRANews.

But don't take our word for it -- hear it all from Supica himself tonight at 9:20 EST on NRANews.com or on Sirius Patriot channel 144.

NRA National Firearms Museum Director Jim Supica doesn't mince words when it comes to Wanenmacher's Tulsa Arms Show. "Everyone who considers himself a 'gun guy' needs to put this show on his bucket list," Supica said of the show, which features some 11 acres of exhibits and displays -- more than 4,000 tables, and more than any other gun show.

This event attracts collectors and dealers from all over the world, so it makes sense for the NRA National Firearms Museum to be on hand. "We attend large gun shows to get some of our incredible historic firearms out where people can appreciate them," Supica said.

At this show, Supica and Senior Curator Phil Schreier will have several firearms from the Museum's newest exhibit, Hollywood Guns. NRAblog is getting a sneak peak at  those later today, so stay tuned!

"If you can get to Tulsa, do it," Supica concluded. Supica and Schreier will undoubtedly spend the weekend meeting and chatting with NRA members among the acres of antique, collector, and modern firearms. We'll catch up with them for a post-event report, too.

While there, stop in to meet NRA National Firearms Museum staff. Rumor has it they will be presenting a few firearms from the upcoming Hollywood Guns exhibit. NRAblog will bring you more information as the show nears -- but our friends at the Museum haven't disappointed us yet! 

Join Museum Senior Curator Phil Schreier, pictured at right,  and Assistant Curator Matt Sharpe at the Baltimore's Antique Arms Show this weekend. The show is the "Crown Jewel" of Collectors’ Shows, featuring more than 1,000 tables of Swords, Militaria items, and, of course, antique firearms for both exhibit and sale. 

This show is one of the first places to receive a sneak-peak of the Museum's upcoming Ruger Gallery exhibit, Hollywood Guns. 

This one-of-a-kind exhibit is scheduled to debut at the National Firearms Musum toward the end of May has not been seen by the public. 

Don't miss your chance for a sneak peak:

• WHAT: The "Original Baltimore" Antique Arms Show
• WHEN: March 20-21, 2010 
• Saturday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
• Sunday 9:00 am - 3:00 pm
• WHERE: Maryland State Fairgrounds, 2200 York Road, Timonium, MD 21093
• ADMISSION: Saturday $10.00 Sunday $5.00

Schreier has been attending this show since he was 21, and he's a celebrity by this point. "The museum has been displaying guns at this show for 20 years," he said. If you can't make the show, stay tuned to NRAblog for Phil's exclusive report!